While some women do their best to play by the rules, others find loopholes in social customs through which they can enact a semblance of autonomy. However, doing so is extremely risky, especially for those lower on the social ladder.
While some women do their best to play by the rules, others find loopholes in social customs through which they can enact a semblance of autonomy. However, doing so is extremely risky, especially for those lower on the social ladder.
This show is wildly good, and Maomao is a fantastic character. My wife and I watch every week. The article draws some of the parallels but in the show it’s even more of a constant theme - the wild excesses of the “inner palace” of the emperor’s concubines versus the red light district outside its walls where Maomao was raised, but foils to each other in that they are both environments where women are kept as objects of desire and pleasure for men. And yet Maomao carves out a path all her own based on her keen intellect, as a sort of Sherlock Holmes type solving matters of palace intrigue. Really, really good.